Fairhope to pay $20K legal fee for Police Chief Bill Press

FAIRHOPE, Alabama — The City Council has agreed to pay more than $20,000 in legal fees from a months-long Alabama Ethics Commission investigation into Fairhope Police Chief Bill Press.

Press hired Vince Kilborn, the high-profile attorney who defended former Gov. Don Siegelman in a 2006 corruption trial, after Mayor Tim Kant asked for an investigation into the chief’s use of a private bank account to pay off-duty officers.

This week, with the caveat that they would receive an itemization, the council voted 4-1 Monday to pay the $20,647.96 bill.

Some council members have suggested that filing the complaint caused unnecessary expense and conflict within the city.

Councilman Rick Kingrea said this week that he believed the complaint stemmed from the mayor’s opposition to Press’ hiring in July 2009.

"I am of the belief that the mayor didn’t seek anybody’s counsel," Kingrea said. "He just brought the charges against the chief. I’ve heard his many reasons why and I don’t buy any of them."

Kant has said he filed the complaint with the Ethics Commission after he ordered Press to stop using the Friends of Fairhope Police account.

Press has said that he told his officers to ask their after-hours employers to make payments for their off-duty work with a check to the private account.

The officers were then paid through that account, he said.

Kant had argued that those payments violated a 1999 city resolution stating that off-duty officers should be paid directly by their employers.

Councilman Dan Stankoski voted in favor of paying the legal fees because the chief was acting "within the scope of his employment."

"The administration did not necessarily have to file an ethics complaint," Stankoski said. "This matter could have been handled administratively in house and saved the legal fees and the unnecessary exposure the complaints brought about."

Council President Lonnie Mixon also agreed with paying the legal fee.

"If you’re exonerated, certainly I think it’s the city’s responsibility to pay the legal fees," Mixon said. "If you’re found guilty, then no, the city would not pay the legal fees."

Kilborn is expected to send the city details about why the bill grew to more than $20,000, according to Mixon.

Kant disagreed with the Monday vote, saying he believed it could set a precedent for the city to pay legal fees of municipal employees who might have done something wrong.

"If the city was going to pay for it, he should have been appointed the attorney from the start," Kant said. "I’ve never known a city to pay the legal fees of an employee that was under investigation by any person."